Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down

March 8, 2014

THUMBS UP: Good news from the Capitol last week when a committee decided not to vote on the bill that would give local governments the choice of taking public notices out of newspapers and putting them only on government websites.

The decision to lay the bill over, the Minnesota Newspaper Association says, suggests that proponents of the bill likely didn't have enough votes to approve it. While newspapers do have a financial interest with revenue from the publication of these notices, we've argued on this page that it is is about more than dollars and cents. This is about getting the information to the public reliably, consistently and in a place where they are sure to see it (and are accustomed to seeing it): the paper, not buried in a website somewhere.

Another anti-public notice bill was introduced in the House a week ago that pertained solely to school districts posting public notices on their websites. We hope this bill sees the same fate as its more wide-ranging cousin did.

No tax breaks for Super Bowl in MN

THUMBS DOWN: One of the arguments for building a new stadium for the Minnesota Vikings was that with a new, state of the art facility, the NFL?would reward Minnesota by staging the Super Bowl here.

Minnesota is indeed building a new monument to football, at a cost of nearly $1 billion. Now it seems that will not be enough. The Minensota Sports Facilities Administration's chair, Michelle Kelm-Helgen, has said in interviews that the NFL expects state subsidies for bringing the Super Bowl here.

State Rep. Pat Garofalo (R-Farmington) has introduced legislation that would block the state from making payments or granting tax breaks to the NFL for the Super Bowl.

We agree. The NFL expects cities and states to pay for their gilded sports palaces, expects fans to pay exorbitant prices for a license allowing them the right to pay exorbitant prices for season tickets, collects millions of dollars in TV revenue for the broadcast rights to their games, and now expects the states to pay for the privilege of hosting the Super Bowl?

Just say no.

DST is here, can spring be far behind?

THUMBS UP: Daylight Savings Time arrives this weekend. As we set our clocks ahead one hour tonight, let us take comfort in the notion that if DST is here, longer days and warmer weather cannot be far behind.

This has been a long, dark and cold winter. It's time for it to say goodbye.